Optical guide for increasing printer image width

ABSTRACT

An optical guide (10, 40, 50, 60) for horizontally aligning two vertically stacked images generated by one or two SLMs. The optical guide has a channel separator (10a) that directs both images along two different paths. A pair of aligning reflectors (10b and 10c) on each path vertically shift the images with respect to each other so that at least part of the images on the first path are aligned side-by-side with at least part of the images on the second path. The channel separator (10a) then redirects the images to the image plane 15. Along both paths, at least two of the reflecting surfaces of channel separator (10a) or aligning reflectors (10b and 10c) are optically powered so as to change the width or height of the images.

This is a divisional of application Ser. No. 08/346,711, filed Nov. 30,1994, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,581,413.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This case is related to patent application Ser. Nos. 08/676,880;08/676,879; 08/676,448.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to optical devices, and more particularly to anoptical guide that aligns two stacked images generated by a spatiallight modulator in a printer exposure unit.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Spatial light modulators (SLMs) are commonly used for imagingapplications, both for display and printing. In general, an SLM is anarray of pixel elements, which are individually addressable, usuallywith electronic signals. Many SLMs are binary, having an addressingscheme that switches the pixels to either an "on" or an "off" state toform the image. Various modulation and integration schemes are used toprovide greyscale images. For printing applications, the SLM is used toexpose a photoreceptor drum and can be addressed so that its pixelsselectively emit or reflect light to the drum in accordance with thedesired image.

One type of SLM is a digital mirror device (DMD), sometimes referred toas a deformable mirror device. The DMD has an array of hundreds orthousands of tiny tilting mirrors, which are the pixels. To permit themirrors to tilt, each is attached to one or more hinges mounted onsupport posts, and spaced by means of an air gap over underlying controlcircuitry. The control circuitry provides electrostatic forces, whichcause each mirror to selectively tilt.

For printing applications, SLMs are typically used to generate long andnarrow images, which expose a given number of rows on the photoreceptordrum. For example, a typical SLM might be an inch long with rows of 900pixels across its length. With appropriate magnification, an SLM of thissize is suitable for exposing a 3 inch long strip of the image at 300dots per inch (dpi).

However, it is often desired to have an image that is longer across than3 inches. Although this could be accomplished by either adding morepixels so that the SLM is longer or by increasing the magnification,neither of these alternatives is desirable. A better technique forincreasing the image size is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,105,299,entitled "Unfolded Optics for Multiple Row Deformable Mirror Device",assigned to Texas Instruments Incorporated. The patent describes using aDMD to simultaneously generate two images, one above the other. Oneimage is the left half of the line to be printed, and one image is theright half of the line. An optical guide is used to project both imagesside-by-side in their correct alignment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One aspect of the invention is an anamorphic optical guide for aligningtwo stacked images generated by at least one spatial light modulator(SLM). In the example of this description, a single SLM generates twostacked images. A projection lens directs both images along an axis ofprojection between the SLM and an image plane. Then, an entry pair ofreflective surfaces directs both images along a right path and bothimages along a left path, each path beginning with one of the entry pairof reflective surfaces. Next, a first pair of reflective surfacesdisposed along the left path directs the images on the left path towardthe axis, while a second pair of reflective surfaces disposed along theright path directs the images on the right path toward the axis.Finally, an exit pair of reflective surfaces, one along each opticalpath, directs the images to the image plane. At least two of thereflective surfaces along each optical path are optically powered foradjusting the width or height of the images.

An advantage of the invention is that it provides a means for printingor displaying wider images with currently available narrow SLM arrays.Because of the anamorphic capability of the optical guide, these imagescan be made to have higher resolution without changing the size of thepixel elements of the SLM or the size of the array. Furthermore, forprinting applications, the anamorphic capability permits the use ofspatial variations for exposing each pixel so that greyscale levels canbe achieved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an exposure system for a printer drum,with an anamorphic optical guide in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the optical guide of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the optical guide of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of an alternative embodiment of the opticalguide of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an alternative embodiment for an opticalguide.

FIGS. 6-8 are perspective, top, and front views of an alternativeembodiment for an optical guide.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 illustrates an anamorphic optical guide 10 in accordance with theinvention. As explained below, optical guide 10 receives two "stacked"images. Optical guide 10 directs these images to an image plane 14, suchthat the two images are aligned side-by-side. It also adjusts the heightor width of the images, such that the final image is anamorphic inaccordance with a desired ratio of height to width.

The following description is directed primarily to the anamorphiccapability of optical guide 10. An optical guide without the anamorphicimage capability of the present invention is described in U.S. Pat. No.5,105,299, entitled "Unfolded Optics for Multiple Row Deformable MirrorDevice", assigned to Texas Instruments Incorporated and incorporated byreference herein.

In the example of this description, the source images are generated byan SLM 12 such as a DMD. As explained in the background, a DMD operatesby reflecting light from tiny mirrors, which are selectively addressed.A typical DMD might have 1000 mirror elements per row, with each mirrorelement being individually addressable.

A light source 11 illuminates SLM 12 via lenses 11a and 11b, and theimage is reflected from SLM 12. However, if some other type of SLM isused, such as one whose pixels emit rather than reflect light, a lightsource 11 may not be necessary.

As indicated by the dotted lines in FIG. 1, SLM 12 generates a top imageand a bottom image. These images are "stacked", one above the other. Forthis purpose, SLM 12 has at least two rows of mirror elements. Forsimplicity of description, it is assumed that SLM 12 generates the twostacked images with one row of pixels per image. However, it is possiblethat SLM 12 might use more than one row of pixels to generate eachimage. Also, SLM 12 might generate more than two images at a time.

In the example of this description, a single SLM 12 generates both thetop image and the bottom image. However, in other embodiments, insteadof a single SLM 12 generating both images, two SLMs could be closelyspaced, with one generating the top image and the other generating thebottom image.

As generated by SLM 12, one image is above and one image is below animaginary optical axis, which extends from the aperture of optical guide10 to the image plane 14. Projection lens 13 receives the imagesgenerated by SLM 12 and projects them along the optical axis to opticalguide 10.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of optical guide 10. As indicated in bothFIGS. 1 and 2, optical guide 10 is comprised of a total of eightreflecting surfaces along two optical paths, a left path and a rightpath. Each optical path has four reflecting surfaces. In the embodimentof this description, a channel separator 10a provides two reflectingsurfaces for each path, referred to herein as each path's "entry"surface and "exit" surface. Two aligning prisms 10b and 10c provide theother two reflecting surfaces for each path.

The angles illustrated in FIG. 2 are for purposes of example. Variationsof these angles can be geometrically derived, based on known opticalprinciples, such that the left optical path and the right optical pathwill eventually be positioned in the same plane as, and at leastsubstantially parallel to, the optical axis.

Channel separator 10a may be comprised of four mirrors, or,alternatively, of a prism with four silvered surfaces. Channel separator10a receives the images from SLM 12 via lens 13, which provides a leftimage and a right image. Alternatively, two lens instead of a singlelens 13, both viewing SLM 12, could provide the two images. Channelseparator 10a directs both images along a left path and both along aright path. Thus, each optical path carries both the top image and thebottom image generated by SLM 12.

In the example of this description, aligning reflectors 10b and 10c areright angle isosceles prisms. In FIG. 1, each has its right angle milledoff for packaging convenience. However, like channel separator 10a,aligning prisms 10b and 10c could each be two reflecting surfacesregardless of how attached to each other.

FIG. 3 is a front view of optical guide 10. As illustrated, aligningreflectors 10b and 10c are tilted with respect to the vertical. Becauseof their tilt, each aligning reflector 10b and 10c raises or lowers theimage along one path with respect to the image along the other path,such that part of the left path's images are in the same horizontalplane as part of the right path's images.

In the example of this description, reflector 10b is tilted inwardtoward channel separator 10a and reflector 10c is tilted outward fromchannel separator 10a. The tilt angles are chosen so that the top imagefrom one optical path is aligned with the bottom image from the otheroptical path. However, it should be understood that if one image isdirected along a path in the same horizontal plane as the optical axis,the alignment could be accomplished by raising or lowering only theother path's images. Also, the tilting could be reversed--either the topor bottom image on one path could be aligned with the other image on theother path.

The exit surfaces of channel separator 10a re-direct the images towardthe image plane 15. An aperture 14 in front of image plane 15 transmitsthe two aligned images and blocks portions of the images that are notaligned. In the example of this description, the top image on one pathis blocked, as is the bottom image on the other path.

The final image is a long continuous image, comprised of the top imageand the bottom image originally generated by SLM 12. This imageilluminates the image plane 15, which for printing applications, is aphotoreceptor drum.

As stated above, the components of optical guide 10 are designed so asto adjust the size of the final images at image plane 14. In effect,each pixel becomes anamorphic. As explained below, the height or thewidth of the image can be adjusted by making two or more surfaces alongeach optical path optically powered.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 1-3, the two reflecting surfaces of eachaligning reflector 10b and 10c are optically powered so as to decreasethe vertical size of the image. For example, the vertical size might beadjusted so that it is 1/2 the horizontal size. At the pixel level, eachpixel has become 1/2 as high as it is wide. This permits a two-foldincrease in vertical resolution. In other words, where an image withnon-anamorphic pixels might have a resolution of 600 dpi in both theprocess (vertical) direction and the cross-process (horizontal)direction, these anamorphic pixels would provide an increase ofresolution in the process direction to 1200 dpi.

For printing applications, the anamorphic capability of optical guide 10can also be used to provide greyscale images. For example, two rows ofpixel elements of SLM 12 could be used to generate each row of the imageon the image plane. Thus, two pixel elements of SLM 12 are used togenerate one pixel of the image. For each pixel, a greyscale level ofintensity can be accomplished according to whether neither, only one, orboth pixel elements of SLM 12 are "on" for the corresponding pixel onthe image plane.

In FIGS. 1-3, the first reflecting surface of each aligning reflector10b and 10c is concave with respect to the images incident on it. Thesecond reflecting surface of each aligning reflector 10b and 10c isconvex with respect to the images. These two reflecting surfaces are"complementary" in the sense that the first surface converges the imageand the second surface focuses the image at the image plane. In thiscase, the image is reduced in the vertical direction. Alternatively, thetwo reflecting surfaces could be complementary with their rolesreversed, such that the first surface is convex with respect to theimage and the second surface is concave. In this case, the final imageswould be larger in the vertical direction. For purposes of thisdescription, "complementary" means that the reflecting surface first metby the images is optically powered so as to adjust the size of theimages, and the second surface is optically powered so as to focus theimages at the image plane. Also, three reflecting surfaces could becomplementary, with two surfaces instead of one being used for adjustingsize or collimating. Additional optical manipulation could be performedto correct astigmatism or other aberrations.

Although in FIGS. 1-3, it is the two surfaces of the aligning reflectors10b and 10c that are optically powered, the same result could beaccomplished with any two of the four reflecting surfaces along eachpath. For example, the four reflecting surfaces of channel separator 10acould be optically powered. In general, the invention is operative toprovide anamorphic images when at least two surfaces along each opticalpath have complementary optical power.

FIG. 4 is a top view of an alternative embodiment of optical guide 10,which adjusts the size of the image in the horizontal direction. As withthe optical guide 10 of FIGS. 1-3, optical guide 40 has at least tworeflective surfaces that are optically powered and that arecomplementary. However, in FIG. 4, the optical power is in thehorizontal instead of the vertical direction.

Like optical guide 10, optical guide 40 has a channel separator 40a andtwo aligning reflectors 40b and 40c. These components serve the samefunction of separating the images onto two paths and of verticallyshifting the images so that at least part of each pair of images isaligned at the image plane.

In FIG. 4, the optically powered surfaces are those of the aligningreflectors 40b and 40c. On each path, the first optically poweredsurface is concave with respect to the images incident on it. The imagesare converged to the second optically powered surface, which is convexwith respect to the images and focusses the images to the image plane.The final images are reduced in the horizontal direction, making themless wide than tall. Pixels with these dimensions can be used toincrease horizontal resolution.

FIG. 5 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the invention, in whichoptical guide 50 comprises a plane mirror 50a, a beam splitter 50b, andtwo aligning reflectors 50c and 50d. The two stacked images from SLM 12are directed by plane mirror 50a to beam splitter 50b. Beam splitter 50bis partially reflective and partially transparent so that both imagesare incident on each reflector 50c and 50d. Thus, both images follow afirst path that has a first aligning reflector 50c, and both imagesfollow a second path that has a second aligning reflector 50d. Thereflectors 50c and 50d are tilted with respect to the vertical so as toalign the images. The images are then reflected or transmitted by beamsplitter 50b to the image plane 15 via projection lens 13.

Optical guide 50 has at least two reflecting surfaces along each paththat are optically powered. In the example of FIG. 5, plane mirror 50aand the aligning reflectors 50c and 50d are curved in the verticaldirection. Plane mirror 50a is concave with respect to the images.Aligning reflectors 50c and 50d are convex with respect to the images ontheir respective paths. The result is an image that is reduced in sizein the vertical direction. Like optical guide 40, the optical powercould alternatively be in the horizontal direction.

FIGS. 6-8 illustrate another embodiment of the invention, in whichoptical guide 60 comprises two rhomboidal prisms 60a and 60b. Rhomboidalprisms 60a and 60b separate the reflected images onto two paths,vertically align the images, and direct them to image plane 15. FIG. 6is a perspective view and FIG. 7 is a top view showing the opticalpaths.

Optical guide 60 has two reflecting surfaces along each path that areoptically powered. Along each path, a first reflective surface isconcave with respect to the image and a second surface is convex. In theexample of FIGS. 6-8, the optically powered surfaces are the third andfourth reflective surfaces along each path, which are also the tiltedaligning surfaces. The concave and convex curvatures are vertical so asto modifiy the size of the image in the vertical direction. Like theother optical guides discussed herein, the two optically poweredsurfaces are complementary so as to focus the images to the image plane15. Also, the curvatures could alternatively be horizontal so as tomodify the horizontal size of the image.

As shown in FIG. 8, which is a front view of optical guide 60, prisms60a and 60b have reflecting surfaces that are tilted with respect to thevertical to provide the alignment. In the example of FIG. 8, thesetilted surfaces are also the optically powered surfaces. FIG. 8 alsoillustrates a superimposed view of lens 13, which has a top portion forproviding a top image and a bottom portion for providing a bottom image.Like the other embodiments described herein, the two images couldalternatively be provided with two different lenses viewing the SLM 12.

With respect to all of the above embodiments, it should be understoodthat the same concepts would apply if the invention were "turned on itsside". Thus, two images could be generated that are parallel to eachother in the vertical instead of horizontal direction. In this case, theoptical guide could be re-positioned so as to align the imagesvertically so that one is above the other. For purposes of thisdescription, this modification of the invention is an equivalent withthe words "vertical" and "horizontal" being interchangeable.

Other Embodiments

Although the invention has been described with reference to specificembodiments, this description is not meant to be construed in a limitingsense. Various modifications of the disclosed embodiments, as well asalternative embodiments, will be apparent to persons skilled in the art.It is, therefore, contemplated that the appended claims will cover allmodifications that fall within the true scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of combining two images on an imageplane, comprising the steps of:generating two images on one or morespatial light modulators, one image above the other; directing bothimages along a first path and both images along a second path; adjustingthe vertical angle of reflection so as to adjust the vertical positionof the images along at least one of said paths, such that at least aportion of said images along said first path is in the same verticalplane as at least a portion of said images along said second path;wherein said first path and said second path each have at least tworeflecting surfaces that are optically powered so as to anamorphicallychange the height or width of said images; and re-directing both imagesto said image plane.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein said adjustingstep is accomplished by elevating images on said first path and loweringsaid images on said second path.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein oneof said images is generated on an axis of projection, and wherein saidadjusting step is accomplished by elevating or lowering the other ofsaid images.